shockwaves across the republican party. the "new york times" poll shows the president now has a ten-point lead in the buckeye state. ten points. ohioans are reacting against mitt romney's notorious comments about the 47%. the president drove that point home today. >> i don't believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims who never take responsibility for their own lives. and i've got to tell you, as i travel around ohio and as i look out on this crowd, i don't see a lot of victims. i see hardworking ohioans. that's what i see. >> it's not just voters in ohio responding to that message. the president has a nine-point lead in florida. and a 12-point lead in pennsylvania. look, there's no mystery about what happened. the secret tape of romney was a

game changer. there's no running away from what he said. there's no spin cycle that can clean up his comment. 47% who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it, it's an entitlement and the government should give it to them and they will vote for this president no matter what. >> a new poll finds 54% of all voters have an unfavorable view of romney's comments and 57% of independents feel the same way. that's a big reason why romney is in so much trouble in ohio and no republican has ever won the white house without winning the state. but when asked about how losing ohio would affect the electoral

map, romney's campaign response said, i prefer to look at the map hol lift clee. he wants to look at the map holistically? how about realistically? president obama is trying to seal the deal. >> values are hard work and personal responsibility, those values that we believe in don't just belong to workers or businesses or the rich or the poor, the 53% or the 47%, the 1% or the 99%. those are american values. and if you're with me and if you work with me, we'll win what county again. we'll win ohio again. we'll finish what we started. we'll remind the world why the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. good bless you, everybody. god bless america.

>> the first presidential debate is exactly one week from tonight and right now both mitt romney and the republican party are being rejected by the american people. joining me now is bob shrum, democratic strategist, and chris stal ball, co-host of "the cycle" on msnbc. bob, let ne start with you. is this as bad as it looks for romney or should i be looking at it more holistically? >> well, i think they should have said that ohio is a big hole in our planet. romney is not an ohio kind of guy. out there he comes across like a guy from another planet. in fact, there's one bain man on youtube that's had 350,000 hits

in ohio. >> 350,000 hits just in the state of ohio? >> just in the state of ohio. and then he talks about getting tough on outsourcing to china but he's the one that outsourced to china. and now he says, i care about the middle class but gives no specifics. it's not believable. look, the guy did a terrible mistake by saying the 47%. the man who said he doesn't care about 47% of the people is heading for not even getting 47% of the vote. >> krystal, when you look at the polls, and not just the "new york times" poll, the president has a big lead. 10%, "new york times." "the washington post," 8% for the president. nbc washington journal, 7% lead. fox news, 7% lead. the columbus dispatch, 5% lead. it's clear that the president is ahead in ohio and no republican

has won without winning the state of ohio. >> if mitt romney does not win ohio, he does not win this election. he could mathematically, theoretically do it, but he would have to win every other swing state that is also leaning towards obama. if he doesn't win ohio, he doesn't win. and i think when that video came out about him talking about the 47% and casting them aside, i think that will be viewed as the pivotal moment in this election, the way that in 2008 mccain's crazed response to the financial crisis was really the pivotal moment. >> so you think this tape is the game changer? >> i do think it's the game changer. but i want to cut mitt romney a little bit of slack. i think that it was almost an impossible task for the are republican nominee to please the party base and appeal to a large section of electorate in order to win. they have to move so far to the right that it was impossible to run any sort of a mainstream campaign and, as you said, this

is a verdict not just on romney but on their entire go it alone philosophy. >> now, bob, picking up on krystal's point about moving so far to the right, having to do that to win the primaries, when you look at the "new york times" poll of ohio, it is not just likeability. the economy 6 points up over romney. on health care, 14 points above romney of ohio voters. national security, 12 points up. medicare, 16 points up. taxes, 10 point up. immigration, 5 points up. foreign policy, 13 points up. so he is outpolling him by a significant number and in most cases, double digits on substantive issues. >> look, this is not at this point just about who you want to sit down with for a casual evening. >> right. >> this is who you want sitting behind the desk in the oval office deciding whether to

voucherize medicare, raise taxes on the middle class, privatize social security. and krystal is right, romney had to move far to the right but having watched that tape, that's where is he comfortable. that's the best and easiest performance that i've seen him give. of course, his worst performance, too. i think people have figured him out. i think the ryan pick helped him figure it out. we still have the debates, the romney campaign inexplicably is raising their expectations. it's not really inexplicable. there's a reason for it. they've got a lot of wavering supporters and some of the super pacs they've got to say just wait for those debates on october 3rd. >> krystal, wanted to cut mr. romney some slack. to be fair, the area that he is up is until budget deficit and

he's winning in the polls 4%. it's the only area that he beats the president 4% in terms of the deficit. but before you celebrate that -- >> i'm celebrating that. >> -- the bloomberg poll finds that 50% of americans view him unfavorably. 50%. that's the worst september rating for a presidential challenger in three decades of the poll. the worst. >> it's really bad. and you've got republicans saying, just wait for the debates. that's when people are going to tune in. >> every time he's had one of these moments -- and every time he's had one of these moments, not only has he failed to capitalize on them, in fact, he's fallen further behind. i don't think mitt romney is up to the task of turning this thing around and i don't think there are enough undecided voters left. >> bob, he's still digging in,

feeling he could win white working-class voters in ohio on this welfare claim. he's sticking to his guns on the claim that the president wants to roll back work requirements for welfare even though politofact take a look at what he says. >> any time there's anything that has been amiss, we correct it or remove it. >> even the welfare act? >> absolutely. look, it has been shown time and again that the president's effort to take work requirement out of welfare is a calculated move, the same thing he did with regard to food stamps. >> i mean, he tried to use every buzz word that but a dog whistle. but do you think this debunked line of attack was romney's only strategy to get white

working-class votes? >> well, what happened is they started off with a referendum strategy. if you're unhappy, give me a try. they didn't think that they were going to have to go out there and be very specific. but then they turned to something a number of republican candidates have done over -- going all the way back to richard nixon. that is, use code words, code issues, and try to use trade as a lever. it's obviously not working in ohio where his support is going down. one thing that i have to say for them at this point is the low expectations going into the debate actually help them. because i think the press would kind of like to give them another run or another chance to go around the track. so if he does decently in the debate, he'll get that chance but i agree with krystal. he would have to win that debate. >> in a way that he's not capable of, frankly. >> is he too elitist that he

just can't connect? >> frankly, he he doesn't have the goods. this is not like he's a new candidate. he's been running for president for six years. he's had ample opportunity to connect with people, to introduce himself, and he's failed to do it for these six years. i don't see how these debates are going to make a difference. >> bob shrum, krystal ball, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, when republicans get desperate, they launch some dirty smears against the president. and newt gingrich just got down in the mud. >> he's not a real president. he doesn't do things that presidents do. he doesn't worry about anything that the presidents do. he's a false president. he's a guy that doesn't do the president's job. >> not a real president? i have some thoughts on that one. plus, mitt romney's crowd is

pretty fired up for paul ryan, that is. >> that's my guy,. paul ryan, sbt thisn't that som? wait a second. romney/ryan. romney/ryan. there you go. that's great. >> the cracks are starting to show in the gop bromance. >> and remember these folks? republicans thought that by 2012 everybody would look like this. whatever happened to the so-called tea party revolution? this is "politicsnation" on msnbc. >> ladies and gentlemen, it's time for a new segment. this is called mitt romney, it's kind of a joke. watch this. >> my dad used to tell us that one year they ate nothing but potatoes. that was when they lived in idaho. even later in life, my dad couldn't look a potato in the

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still ahead, uh-oh, looks like paul ryan is stealing mitt romney's thunder. it's never good when the presidential crowd has to remind the crowd who is on the top of the ticket. t do you think? [ engine revs ] i'll take it. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month. now during chevy truck month, get 0% apr financing for 60 months or trade up to get the 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $8,000. hurry in before they're all gone!

to fight for the gop's very

existence, no one can stand or bear him. >> mitt romney is looking for a way back into the voter's hearts with a little help. they were reunited on the campaign trail in ohio yesterday for the first time in more than a month. the "new york times" says romney and ryan plan to come pain together a lot more in the weeks ahead. comes the sinking poll numbers and concerns that romney is not generating enough excitement on his own. and he needs ryan to fire up the crowd. but yesterday's reunion didn't quite go as planned. >> wow. that's quite a guy, isn't it? paul ryan. isn't that something? wait a second.

romney/ryan, romney/ryan, romney/ryan. there we go. thank you. >> wow. you know things are bad when a nominee has to remind people he's the one on the top of the ticket. suddenly, this reunion is not feeling so good. joining me now is nia-malika henderson, a reporter for "the washington post," and ryan grim, reporter for "the huffington post." thanks for being here. >> great to be here, rev. >> nia, i've been around politics since i was a teenager, i've never seen anything that bad where the nominee had to stop the crowd and put his name out front. i mean, this is a little crazy, don't you think? >> and you've seen this before. you've seen people, you know, sort of tripping up on romney's name, calling him mitt romney. you've seen him on "60 minutes" rep minding that he's the one on

the ticket running for president. ryan has energized this ticket. barack conservatives on board. now you have conservatives saying, unleash ryan and have him talk more about policy and his plans for the future of the country. but it has been a bit of a sticky situation. the aides i've talked to around romney say they have a great relationship, they talk several times a day. but in reality ryan does have a different set of advisers around him, a different set of speechwriters. i think everyone at this point is waiting to see if ryan, in fablt, goes rogue at some point. does he move to save his brand, which, of course, was this young gun, tea party guy. does he look at his future prospects and see romney as being something of a drag on whatever his future prospects might be for national office four years from now. >> well, ryan gives us two dilemmas. one, is this romney being

insquare and overreacting or is it a problem for mr. ryan who has to protekt his brand for the future and if he decides his future is at risk, what happenses if he does go roguwro? >> well, in some sense ryan can help himself and romney at the same time. in other words, by deflecting the spotlight by him and saying, no, you're right, romney is the guy at the top of the ticket, romney is the guy you should be paying attention to, that also absolves him of some of the responsibility for what a lot of people are thinking is going to be a debacle on election day so they can say, romney is our leader and carrying the flag so when the ticket stumbles, they say, romney was on the top of the ticket. it wasn't me. >> well, your paper, nia-malika,

recently reported that they are worried about how the campaign has changed ryan. quoting from an article in the washington post, there's been mounting concern among republicans that the pick has made ryan look more like romney, vague, cautious, and limited to preset talking points. >> that's right. i think there was a sense that ryan was this bold, brash young guy with lots of different ideas, whether they are on medicare or medicaid and that would influence romney. you saw initially that they came out to say that this would be a campaign about ideas and are really being able to draw a really stark contrast with obama. so far that hasn't happened. i think in a lot of ways ryan has been diminished and a lot of

his supporters on the hill and conservatives among the conservative elite and money man, they very much want this to be about ryan's ideas, ryan's bold ideas for the future. and i think in some ways they are preparing to make an argument if in fact romney stumbles and if in fact ryan is still left in a diminished state and not able to talk about their ideas. they are prepared to argue that that is in fact why romney lost. in fact, if he was more bold, he'd have a better chance of winning. >> well, ryan talking about romney's stumbling, it seems that he's having a real problem staying on message. for example, watch this when he deals with health care reform. watch this. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. >> he's not one new idea. i admit this. he has one thing that he did not do in his first four years that he said he was going to do in his next four years, which is to raise taxes. >> now, in both of those cases, the campaign had to walk back the candidate's remarks. sew says things and two

examples, taxes and health care, where his campaign had to actually walk him back. >> right. i think goes back to a comment you said at the beginning where you said, i've never seen anything like that. and people have been saying that over and over for the last couple of weeks because he keeps doing thing that people have never seen before in politics. they have never seen anybody who insulted half of the electorate that you're trying to win over and then he goes out and says, okay, parts of health care are pretty good and then he goes and says obama hasn't raised taxes and today, don't ex don't pekts a lot of because if he told the crowd specifically what deductions he was going to go after, then at least you could give him point for courage and specificity. but instead he just vaguely

said, you're not going to get a tax cut because i'm going to go after your deductions. it's not courageous, it's just dumb. people are walking out of the rally wondering, boy, so i'm not going to get a tax cut and he's going to go after some deductions. well, which ones? charitable? mortgage interest deduction? don't know. he just keeps doing these things that are inexplicable and what that is going to allow republican operatives to do after the election is to say that it wasn't a problem with the ideology. it wasn't a problem that he was running too extreme of a campaign. it was a problem that he was a bad campaigner and that undermines attempts by others that pull the party in a more moderate direction. >> but, nia, i think also the problem with that is, what does that do to ryan? because i'm thinking of the iowa republican party political director craig robinson, was just more direct when he was quoted by the "new york times" assaying, quote, if ryan wants to win for national office

again, he'll probably have to wash the stench of romney off of him. the stench of romney. >> yeah. i mean, that -- those are harsh words. and i think a lot of republicans, tea party folks particularly, feel that way. feel like mitt romney has watered down the paul ryan that they have come to love and respect and think of him as very much the standard bearer of the future of the republican party. i think everyone is on the lookout to see ryan go his own way sort of the way that we've seen sarah palin do that. i think that's what everybody is waiting to see, if paul ryan is going to do that. i think he's very much a good soldier so i tend to think that he probably wouldn't do that in the way that sarah palin did that but we'll have to see. >> nia-malika henderson and ryan grim, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you.

still ahead, offensive photos of the president posted by a republican party chapter in a key swing state. is this what's happening on the far right of the gop? stay with us. [ male announcer ] with a driving range of more than 550 miles you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic.

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have you checked us out oh on facebook? the "politicsnation" conversation is going all day long. today folks are still buzzing about how ryan's been outshining

romney a bit on the campaign trail. dennis thinks, anybody romney chose to be his running mate could outshine him. hugh says, it's almost ryan's turn to go rogue. and claudia says, if this crowd really knew what ryan had in store for them, they wouldn't be chanting his name either. we want to know what you think of the romney/ryan relationship. head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and "like" us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. [ man ] out! your kind is not welcome here! nor your odd predilections! miracle whip is tangy and sweet, not odd. [ man ] it's evil! if you'd try it, you'd know. she speaketh the truth! [ crowd gasps ] [ woman ] reverend? ♪ can i have some? ♪

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as republicans get more pessimistic about their chances in november, they are getting more and more desperate and reaching back into their bag of dirty tricks. just listen to what former republican candidate newt gingrich said about the president last night. >> he happens to be a partial

part-time president. he really is like the substitute referees in the sense that he's not a real president. he doesn't do any of the things that presidents do. he doesn't worry about anything of the things that presidents do. he's a false president. he's a guy that doesn't do the president's job. >> he's a false president. he's not a real president. what's newt saying here? that president obama, our president, is somehow not legitimate? this is the latest in a long line of smears and innuendo aimed at our president. is comes from within the romney campaign as well. >> look, let me tell you what the big problem with this president is, in my opinion. he is absolutely lazy and detached from his job. >> the president is lazy and detached? did john really say that?

the republican committee in virginia has been ordered by the state gop to take down offensive photos of president obama photoshopped to make him look like a witch doctor and a cave man and this one showing the president begging the country, come on, baby, give me one more chance. as we went on air tonight, most of those photographs are still on that republican committee's web page. joining me now is joe madison, nationally syndicated radio host of "morning's with madison" and ana marie cox, reporter for the guardian. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me, reverend. >> thank you. >> newt gingrich, joe, says president obama is a false president. what's behind that attack? >> well, i don't know. i asked -- you know, ask the folks in the middle east, you know. ask the navy s.e.a.l.s who

helped to get the most wanted terrori terrorists. it's like the three stooges. john, newt, and donald trump. really, like the three stooges on steroids and this is, again, cold. when you hear lazy, that's the kind of code word that they would say about african-americans in the '60s, the '50s, and decades before. this is nothing more than just out right racism. again, as i've said before, it's not jim crow. it's not senator eastland. it's not lester maddox. it's james crow esquire in a pin-striped suit, the sophisticated cousin and, quite honestly, i don't think your children, my children, all of

them are grown and this jej rags is falling for it. you know the reason why? because they've gone to school with people of different nationalities, different colors. they've competed with people. they know men and women like michelle obama. they know men like barack obama. and they are not falling for it and they are the neadrethals. they are wondering, what cave did you come out of? >> ana marie, is this due to desperation that they are going back to the old dirty tricks and code words because they are losing and they've become desperate? >> i think so, al. i have to say, i want to be totally fair. people said some really nasty things about george bush when he was in office. there are pretty awful character turs of him. there's one significant thing,

it did not have the racialress nans of him and that's a huge thing. here's one thing that i think they have in common. those things didn't really work. those slurs against george bush did not really work with the mass amount of people and i do not think that these things are working in part because we have grown as a country. we elected barack obama. that doesn't mean that we've seen the end of racism but it does mean that people my age, people a little younger than me don't have that same resonance because they've seem people like michelle obama and barack obama all the time. this is more desperate than effective. >> joe, mitt romney himself have said some things that kind of go along with some of the more brazen stuff if you look at it a certain way. he talks about how the president doesn't have american values.

he says it repeatedly on the campaign trail. listen to this. >> we've got to stop apologizing for success at home and we've got to have a president to stop apologizing for success abroad. >> i don't think his comments and suggestive understanding of what makes american a u knew nation. >> it's in some respects foreign to the american experience type of philosophy. >> i don't think he ubdss why our economy is the most successful in the world. i don't think he understands america. >> two act as though the president doesn't understand america, his values are unamerican, he doesn't understand how to deal with americans, joe, isn't that sort of the same kind of code that he's different from us, whoever us is supposed to be? >> that's absolutely right. remember, his staff when they were in england didn't understand the anglo-saxon values. who talks like that in this day

and age? but the president, to everyone, is an example of an american exceptionalism and his entire family. you know what? look, this is mitt romney, once again, he has gone so far to the right to the extreme. he has played -- he's so deep into that base that just dislikes newt -- dislikes the president obama so much. now, notice something here. and i guarantee you, even if you played the clip longer, he never says what the president said. in fact, fact checkers have shown that over and over. oh, i forgot. they don't care about facts. >> that's my point. creating this energy and to some degree it's effective when you

look at the fact that october 2008, 16% of republicans said president obama is a muslim. in july of 2012, 30% of republicans say the president is a muslim. it's doubled. more republicans, twice as many, believe the president is a muslim today than they did four years ago, even though i might underscore, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a muslim. >> nothing. >> that's true, although they feedback on themselves. the more you poll that question, the higher the percentage gets because for a lot of republicans that have this distaste for obama, the idea that he's a muslim explains a lot to them. the other thing that i noticed is that sometimes barack obama polls well even though they think he might be a muslim. but i really have to insist, i

don't think it will work in the long run. we don't like desperate looking candidates. >> these pictures that you've shown is something like out of mad magazine. that's exactly what -- you know, i used to read mad magazine when i'm a teenager. grow up. and i wish the grownups would come back to the republican party, honestly. >> joe, ana marie, thanks for your time tonight. still ahead, paul ryan has some advice for women on welfare. you'll want to see this. but, first, it's not just mitt romney that voters are rejecting right now. the tea party's in a downward spiral. stay with us.

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party has been written, we will not be forgotten. >> ah, remember that? that's what people were saying about the tea party before this year. it would never be forgotten. it would go down in history. people would take to the streets with tea bags hanging from their brims. well, that prediction isn't really working out. americans are rejecting the tea party ideas, including their hatred of federal government. and this election could be the final breaking point. president obama says that if he's fortunate enough to win a second term, his re-election will send a message to republicans that americans want his strategies, his solutions.

the american people will speak on november 6th. the question is, will republicans listen? joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, now an nbc political analyst and thank you both for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you, rev. >> governor rendell, let me go to you first. do republicans have a lot more at stake than just mitt romney in this election? >> there's no question. first of all, if mitt romney loses badly, the tea party will put a spin on that saying that he wasn't a true conservative, he wasn't one of us. you can't test our strength until one of us runs for president. but the fallacy of that argument is going to be in the senate and in the house. in the senate, listen to the states where the republicans are in danger of losing senate seats. missouri, indiana, north dakota, arizona, and nevada and maine. >> right.

>> six states where tea party candidates won the primary and in indiana, if richard luger had beaten in the primary, there would be no race in the fall. the democrats would have no chance. but because tea party candidates prevailed in that state, there's a chance that -- five of them would be pickups. clair mack kccaskill who everyo assumed was dead. >> based on current polling, i don't think one can say that it is now out of the question that we can wake up on the morning of november 7th to the prospect of speaker nancy pelosi. that's astounding for bill

kristol to be saying. >> yes. the tea party itself is unfavorable. there are fewer people who identify as members of the tea party. you have house members of the tea party caucus now creating a congress that has record low approval rating. house members are in districts where the tea party is unfavorable. people who ran as tea party candidates before are no longer running as tea party candidates. they are dropping that from how they describe themselves. so i think the end result is, now we're realizing as a country after having this discussion that people want a more balanced approach. they want a collaboration and cooperation and they don't want either party to be beholden to a really fringe extremist party. >> isn't that the point though, governor? it's not just the politics and the personalities, it seems to be a rejection for the ideas and the philosophy and policy of the tea party?

>> yeah, there's no question. with this election the pen dell lum has begun to swing back and people are realizing that government is not the enemy. it's not the solution to all of our problems but it's not the enemy and can be very important to help people who are vulnerable and have lost their jobs, people who have no way of feeding their families and an opportunity to create jobs and develop an infrastructure program that will bring millions of americans back to work. so, yeah, i think the pendelum has swung and it's a positive attitude towards government in a long time that we've seen in a long time. so, yeah, i think there is a seat change. >> now, margie, when you look at the fact that the establishment in the republican party, they don't seem to be putting their neck on the lines for these vulnerable tea parties, either. the national republican

congressional committee has no airtime reserved for three of its most vulnerable incumbents, a a sign that joan walsh and rosco bartlett are beyond saving. all members of the tea party. guess the ideas aren't working for their constituents. huh, marge? >> you see republicans going back to missouri to help todd akin regardless of how mainstream out of it he is and joe walsh makes news with his remarks is going to be a left hung out to dry. frankly, both parties ultimately look -- their job to get more candidates elected. i think it's important, too, to look at the broader context of

what this means for the presidential race, that this race, according to pew, is going to hinge on the size of government and while broadly speaking people do want smaller government, more than larger government, when asked in a larger context when it comes to specifics, as the governor was saying, people are on the side of democrats and that's why you don't hear mitt romney and paul ryan offering a lot of specifics and that's why you have a lot of senate races hinging on candidates have that have taken tough votes. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. ed rendell and margie, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. we'll be right back.

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we've talked for months about the disastrous impact republican policies have on people who are already struggling. today paul ryan came face-to-face with one of those people. at a campaign event, a woman on

public assistance asked ryan how he had helped people like her. >> i make $316 every two weeks. i'm wondering what you're prepared to do to end welfare as a hand up and not a hand out. i can't get off welfare with what i'm making. >> right z th. >> this is a woman in need a woman struggling. she says she can't afford to get off welfare. just listen to the end of ryan's response to her question. >> the only thing that limits you is your god given talent and your own effort. we need to have that dynamic return. you do that by drawing the economy and giving people a hand up, not a hand out. teach a man how to fish, he can feed himself for a life. don't simply just feed fish. >> don't feed fish? what does that even mean?

we've heard this from herman cain. remember? if you're not rich, blame yourself. instead of offering solutions to help the poor, republicans want to gut the safety net. we have nearly two-thirds of ryan's budget cuts come from low-income programs, things like medicaid, food stamps and pell grants. but his running mate thinks there's plenty of cash to give tax cuts to the rich. romney's tax plan would raise taxes on low-income americans. it would raise taxes on the middle class. but it would give a big old tax break to billionaires. mr. ryan, i'm all for teaching men to fish but you're giving the catch of the day to the wealthy and throwing everyone else overbroad. plat tud slogans, all of that is nice. but telling a man to tighten up his belt when he's already been stripped down to his underwear,

what could be inspirational becomes insensitive and downright insulting. let's have a program for all americans, not just those at the top. not just those that have already succeeded. but those that really believe in this country and just wants the chance to get on their feet and participate and make a livelihood for their family, like the lady you met today. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. breaking away, let's play "hardball." >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, i want you to watch and listen to the next few minutes here. it may be the most important